1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to holder and, in particular, to a collapsible and expandable holder and a system using the same.
2. Background Description
The delivery of mail such as catalogs, products, advertisements and a host of other articles have increased exponentially over the years. These mail pieces are known to be critical to commerce and the underlying economy. It is thus important to provide efficient delivery of such mail in both a cost effective and time efficient manner. This includes, for example, arranging randomly deposited mail pieces into a sequential delivery order for delivery to a destination point. By sorting the mail in a sequential order based on destination point, the delivery of mail and other articles can be provided in an orderly and effective manner.
In current sorting processes, optical character recognition systems may be used to capture delivery destination information. A host of feeders and other complex handling systems are then used to transport the mail to a host of bins or containers for sorting and future delivery. These handling systems include a transport track with a plurality of holders extending therefrom. The holders are designed to accommodate the mail pieces as they are transported from the feeders to a drop off point.
However, known holders are of a fixed size that, in use, has to be considerably larger than the mail pieces which are loaded therein. That is, the holders have to be designed to be larger than the largest mail piece to ensure that the largest mail piece can be captured within the holder for sequencing, transporting and drop off at a desired location. This larger design ensures that the mail piece can be placed within the holder from the feeder, without damaging the mail pieces or having a “failed” transfer. If there is a failed transfer, the entire system may have to be shut down in order to retrieve the mail piece. This, of course, will result in lost processing time, increased costs and other handling expenses.
These large fixed size holders are cumbersome, require a considerable amount of space and add to the overall use of the flooring space required by an accompanying system. As to the additional use of flooring space, it should be understood that the system, e.g., sequencer, has to be designed to accommodate these large fixed sized holders even though only a few of the mail pieces may be of a larger size. This, however, is not a very good use of flooring space considering that many of the mail pieces are smaller than that of the largest mail piece. Thus, in use, many of the holders are accommodating smaller sized mail pieces which results in a considerable amount of unused space in the holders and hence the system, as a whole.